The Czech Republic will certainly not negotiate with the Taliban. This was stated by Prime Minister Andrej Babiš in an interview with Mladá fronta DNES. According to him, the approach towards a Taliban-led Afghanistan is more a question for the European Council or for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). If the radical Islamist Taliban movement that ruled Afghanistan in mid-August can be trusted, time will tell, according to Babish.
“The Czech Republic will certainly not negotiate with the Taliban. The mission is over for us, we saved the people we needed to save,” Babiš told today’s MfD. He reiterated that the Czechia managed the mission.
“The Taliban are still looking and wanting to show the world that there is no problem in Afghanistan when Allied troops have left. And that there is no reason for Afghans to leave the country. Only time will tell whether we can trust them or not,” Babish responded. the question of whether he fears a similar wave of migration in Europe as in 2015.
One week ago, in response to developments in Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Jakub Kulhánek (CSSD) said that the Czechia would have to accept the reality in Afghanistan after the fall of Kabul and seek more active cooperation with countries that have contacts with the Taliban. According to him, what it will be like the Czech Republic’s relations with the Taliban will be premature.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday that the Taliban is now an Afghan reality. According to her, Germany and other Western countries must negotiate with the Taliban so that not everything that has been achieved in the country over the last 20 years is lost.
Since mid-August, when the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in a flash, 82,300 people have been evacuated from the country. According to Reuters, the White House announced it on Wednesday. Kabul Airport, from where evacuation flights are sent, is guarded by American soldiers. But the Taliban insist that US and other foreign troops must leave the country by August 31.
Three weeks ago, the Czech Republic transported almost 200 people from Kabul, Afghanistan, to Prague three years ago, including 170 Afghans. The third plane landed in Prague last week on Wednesday. Army planes evacuated Czech embassy employees, Czech soldiers, Afghan embassy and Czech army collaborators with their families, as well as Afghans who have a permanent residence in the Czech Republic, evacuated to the Czech Republic. Several people were transported by Czech planes to Poland and Slovakia.